Skælskør, 2011-09-09 12:26 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
CEO Bernhard Griese on the interim report:
“We have a solid business, which is seeing positive developments in a number of strategic areas. However, the results for Q1 are impacted by a fall in core business revenue in July due to the unusually wet and unsummery weather in northern Europe. At the same time, we are seeing the expected effects of increasing raw material prices which, on account of intensified competition, cannot simply be added to sales prices.
We are maintaining the outlook for the year as a whole and are pleased that our customer relations are continuing to develop positively. Our ability to supply high-quality products and our flexibility are contributing significantly to safeguarding our strong position in the important core markets. Also, we are currently pursuing a number of attractive opportunities to further strengthen and develop our business. Our exports of beverages are seeing solid growth, and we are working hard to make the most of further attractive market potential through the continued expansion of our sales organisation and the conclusion of new partnership agreements with distributors in a number of growth markets in, e.g., Asia and the Middle East.
Positive results are being generated by our malt extract export activities as collaboration agreements with both national and regional drinks manufacturers in the Middle East and Central Asia are being developed. Concurrently, we are involved in a number of interestingbeginning-of-periodprojects with strategic partners in the international drinks industry. Our products continue to attract considerable interest among customers and collaboration partners, and we expect our export activities to account for an increasing share of Harboe’s results.”
